The Italian bishops have reacted with dismay that the lifting of restrictions after the COVID-19 coronavirus will not include the celebration of public Masses.

The Bishops called Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s week-by-week plan for returning to normal life “arbitrary” and threatened to take matters into their own hands.

Their move follows the Catholic German bishops’ conference who voiced disappointment at Chancellor Angela Merkel’s announcement April 15, that the ban on public church services should remain until further notice, while thousands of shops were being allowed to reopen.

Bishop Georg Batzing, president of the German Catholic bishops’ conference, said he could not understand why the ban should remain in place while restrictions were being eased in other parts of public life, especially given a recent decision by the Federal Constitutional Court on the matter. The court had ruled that the ban constituted a serious encroachment on the fundamental right to religious freedom and should therefore be reviewed continuously.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Archbishop Michel Aupetit sharply criticized the police for conducting an armed raid on a church to shut down a celebration of mass after a tip-off erroneously claimed it was open to the public.

He said it is formally prohibited for armed policemen to enter into a church, unless there is a “threat to the public order.” In the case of Saint-André, the parish priest had been careful to close the door so that no public would enter.

“They [the Police] need to keep their heads and stop this nonsense,” the Bishop added. “Otherwise, we will speak out and, in case of confinement, bark very loudly.”